Business urges others to use free tool to cut CO2

Natalie Eichmann, managing director of Gilt Edged, says the calculator is helping the company to cut CO2

A local business is encouraging others to use a free carbon calculator to help cut some of the "excessive" costs of achieving net zero.

Gilt Edged, a supplier of company branded products and promotional items in Moulton Park in Northampton, has been using the "accessible" calculator.

It was developed for businesses and charities to measure emissions as part of a project between West Northamptonshire Council, University of Northampton and Sustainable Business Alliance.

Keeping track of carbon footprint can cost a business with up to 50 staff about £10,000 a year, the project said. Natalie Eichmann, managing director at Gilt Edged, said the tool helped them "to know where to focus our efforts".

Gilt Edged is one of over 100 companies using the free carbon calculator

"The cost to actually try and monitor your own carbon footprint can be quite excessive, and some of the calculators out on the market can be quite confusing," she said.

"So for us to be able to use something quite simple and very accessible gives us a really good starting point to know exactly where we need to focus our efforts in order for us to be meeting those targets by 2050."

The UK has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Gilt Edged employs 22 people, and, according to the calculator, its footprint result was 4.8 tonnes of the planet-warming greenhouse gas CO2 per employee for 2023.

The company wants to reduce that to 4 tonnes this year and 1.1 tonnes by 2030.

Dr Ebenezer Laryea is the project lead for the Towards A Net Zero

The free carbon calculator was created with funding from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

It is also part of an ongoing Towards A Net Zero (TANZ) scheme in the county, which is led by Dr Ebenezer Laryea.

"This is a defining moment in our collective journey towards reaching Net Zero," said Dr Laryea, an associate professor of sustainable development law at the University of Northampton.

"For the first time ever, a carbon calculator which has been uniquely developed for local businesses is being made available free of charge to ensure that businesses and charities across our region are able to have the basic tools to measure their emissions, identify areas of high emissions, take the action to address those areas, and forecast their paths to Net Zero for years to come."